Wednesday Recap

List week we looked at the life of Jonah. Although Jonah was originally disobedient and disobeyed, God used that disobedience to bring pegans to worship the Lord, bring Jonah to a dark place (pun intended), offered grace through it all. 

Often we don't see discipline and hard times as grace, but through a storm that almost broke a boat, God's grace allowed the boat to stay intact, brought men of the world to a place that where they worshiped the Lord, His grace allowed Jonah to be thrown overboard, swallowed by a giant fish and Jonah didn't die. 

That is a lot of grace in not fun ways. I mean, Scripture says God told the fish to vomit Jonah out on the dry land. Yuck!

But, through it all, God's message made it to a very evil place and the people of Nineveh, did hear the message from the Lord and repented and turned to God. 

That would make for a good ending spot, but there's more. 

Jonah sat on a hill waiting for the destruction of Ninevah and pouted because he didn't get his way. 

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly [it was exceedingly evil to Jonah], and he was angry”

He complained to God; “That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”

The Lord's response was one of conviction. After giving Jonah a plant to give shade and then taking the shade away, Jonah complained again, and God said; "Do you do well to be angry for the plant?...You pity the plan, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more the 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

The End

Yes, that is the end of the story. But even though it is the end of the story as we read it, we can learn a lot about what we should care about. We should care about the things the Lord cares about. We should care about the souls of the people around us and put more passion there.

Mission Project

This year we have been raising money for Continental Baptist Mission and Alpha Family Services as ministry partners of Calvary. Students and leaders do this through purchasing snacks or giving in our offering buckets each week. 

I am pleased to announce that since Christmas we have raised over $700. That is a huge blessing. We have a few more weeks of Thrive and then we will take what we have and divide the total between both ministries. 

Here's the challenge. Let's see if we can get to $1,000 or more by May 6 (our last "normal" Thrive). That would bring the grand total to over $2,000 for the year and over $1,000 for each ministry.

Upcoming Information

April 1 - Baptism Class 5pm at MidTown - Please e-mail Pastor Rob if interested.

April 1 - Middle School students will go to Continental Baptist Missions to help them with a mulching project. Students should be ready to go over to CBM at 6pm and we will return around 8pm. Dress to get dirty and for the weather. Senior High students will have a "normal night".

If, rain cancels the work project, the Middle School students will stay at MidTown and continue as a normal Wednesday

April 8 - SPRING BREAK - NO THRIVE

April 15 - Alpha Family Services will be at Thrive to share about their ministry. They will share how they help families during unexpected times. Topics of pregnancy, abortion and counseling will be topics of conversation

April 22 - Early Release at MidTown 11am-12pm

April 22 - Senior High students will be going to Alpha to help them clean their building. Students should dress to get dirty. Vans will leave MidTown at 6pm and return around 8pm. Middle School students will have a "normal" night.

April 29 - Thrive at MidTown

May 6 - Early Release at MidTown 11am-12pm

May 6 - Hot Topics - Thrive at MidTown

May 13 - End of the Thrive year party. More information to come.

August 10-15 - Mission Trip to Hastings, MI